Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet
by NinjaQueen33
Summary: Ace, Sabo, and Luffy get into a load of shenanigans the night of October 31st. With the full moon out and bright, it will definitely be a night to remember. ASL! Halloween A.U.


Hey good people, this is an ASL fic that I was whipping up for a while now. This is my first one ever so I hope you all enjoy it. It's quite long so read at your own pace and, if you want, leave a review or your thoughts about it, I would really appreciate it.

Also note, in this...

Ace & Sabo – 13 years old

Luffy – 10 years old

Alrighty then, happy reading!

* * *

**Halloween night**

"But why?" Ace whined.

"Because I have an emergency meeting to go to so I can't take him trick or treating."

Ace groaned as he sunk himself in the couch. "This is so unfair! I have plans with Sabo to..."

Garp gave him a raised brow. "Plans to do what exactly?"

"...Um...just clean and respectable Halloween fun."

"Well, you can do that while taking your brother out trick or treating."

Ace sucked his teeth in, "Shitty old man..."

"What was that?" Garp gave him a threatening look while raising his fist.

The pre-teen straightened himself quickly and formed a fake smile. "I meant...I'll do the best I can!" He trailed off by nervously laughing.

Lucky for him his grandfather bought it since he roared that boisterous laugh of his. "Great then. I gotta go, so have fun and no funny shenanigans. I should be home around eleven so don't stay out too late. Make sure Luffy is on his best behavior too, you know how he gets when it comes to candy. Well see ya kiddo, I'll try to bring back some sweets if I can."

Ace waved him goodbye until Garp closed the front door all the way. He rushed to the window and watched his grandfather pull out of the driveway. When his car was out of sight, he let out a loud groan.

"Damn old man...pushing his responsibilities on me."

Loud footsteps were heard nearby, indicating that Luffy was rushing downstairs. "Ace!"

Ace turned around to see his little brother dressed in his Halloween costume. He snickered when he took a good look at his outfit. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm the king of the pirates!" Luffy answered energetically.

Ace crossed his arms, "Ah, of course, it's not like you were that last year."

"No, I was a simple pirate last year. But this year I'm king of the pirates."

"How original." Ace rolled his eyes.

A knock on the door stole their attention. Ace walked over to the door to see who it was. "People trick or treating already? It's only five-thirty..."

When he opened the door, it revealed to be his best friend, Sabo. Ace grinned as soon as he recognized him.

"Are you dressed as an undercover nobleman spy or something?" Ace greeted.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to guess it on the first try." Sabo said, surprised.

The blond walked in the house, his eyes resting on Luffy first, who was bouncing around in his pirate costume.

"Sup Luffy." Sabo politely greeted.

"Yo!" Luffy greeted with a friendly smile.

"He's coming with us." Ace pointed at him with his thumb.

Sabo's brows raised, "Wait, why?"

"Cause my shitty gramps dumped him on me at the last minute, so I have to take him trick or treating."

After seeing Sabo's uncertain face, he walked closer to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll just take Luffy trick or treating for about thirty minutes then we can have our Halloween fun." Ace whispered low enough for Luffy not to hear.

"But what about Luffy? We both know that he'll want to go trick or treating all night."

Ace patted his shoulder and flashed him a smirk. "Don't worry, I'll find a way to persuade Luffy to let us do our thing and keep quiet about it."

"I don't know Ace..."

"What are you guys talking about?" Luffy whispered loudly, butting in the conversation.

Ace and Sabo jumped a little when they saw that Luffy was invading their personal space. Luffy simply smiled and playfully swung his arms back and forth out of boredom.

"Can we go trick or treating now?" Luffy impatiently whined.

"Luffy, I have a proposal for you." Ace said, facing him.

Small wrinkles formed in between the little pirate king's brows. "What's a proposal?"

Sabo sighed before answering. "It means a suggestion that one person presents to another person in hopes for consideration."

Luffy scratched an itchy spot on his arm as he slowly nodded. "Oh..."

"Anyway...Luffy, how about me and Sabo take you around the neighborhood then afterward we do something else that's even way cooler than trick or treating?" Ace proposed.

The pirate king made a pouty face when he heard this. "But I want to go to the other neighborhoods too. Like where Sabo lives."

"Why do you want to go to my neighborhood?" Sabo asked.

"Because you live in a rich neighborhood and I heard from Usopp that they give out the best candy."

"Luuuffyyyyy." Ace dragged his name out to emphasize his annoyance. "Sabo lives on the other side of the boulevard. Can't you just be satisfied if I take you around our neighborhood?"

"No deal if I can't go to Sabo's neighborhood too."

Seeing his little brother's crossed arms and childish pouty face, Ace knew that he wouldn't cooperate unless he gets his way. He sighed in frustration; his brother can be so stubborn sometimes.

"Ugh, fine. But we're only going to a few houses in his neighborhood and that's it. Understand?"

Luffy turned around to face him with a smile of victory. "Yay! Deal!"

He reached out for him to shake his hand. Ace eyed the smaller hand and formed a small smile. He grabbed it and firmly shook on it, confirming their agreement.

"Deal."

"Ehem..."

The two brothers turn to see an impatient undercover nobleman spy tapping his black boot along the hardwood floor. "This is great and all but it's almost six. So the more time we chitchat the less valuable time we're losing."

Ace nodded. "You're right."

He looked outside the window and saw that the sun has completely rested. It was a matter of time before the night would invade its way in. "It's starting to get dark. Let's get going."

Luffy pumped his fist in the air since he couldn't control his excitement. "Woohoo! I'm gonna get the best candy now that I'm going to Sabo's neighborhood."

"You really want to go to my neighborhood, huh?" Sabo gave him a look from behind.

"Well, grandpa always used to tell me no when I asked him to take me over there for Halloween. But good thing Ace is taking me this year because I know he can never bring himself to tell me no."

Ace shot him an offended look as he opened the front door. "You make me sound like I'm a damn pushover or something."

"I don't know Ace, you do have a soft spot for Luffy and tend to let him easily persuade you sometimes." Sabo joked.

"Whaaatt!?"

"See? Even Sabo knows!"

Ace smacked him on the back of his head, so hard that his signature straw hat got knocked off. "Shut up, Luffy!"

**ooo**

The two young teens waited on the sidewalk, watching Luffy run up to the last inviting house of the neighborhood. Most of the houses in the neighborhood were pretty welcoming. There were houses with scary (in Ace and Sabo's case) and not so scary (but scary in Luffy's case) decorations. Houses with friendly neighbors who dressed up and committed to passing out candy outside their house. Then some houses simply had their porch lights on and put a "just take some candy" note on top of a bowl of candy out of not wanting to deal with kids or just plain laziness.

It was a smart idea for Luffy to take two candy bags with him because his first one was one house away from becoming completely full. Ace watched as his little brother rung on the doorbell. He sighed when he remembered apologizing to a married couple a few houses back because Luffy kept ringing their door non-stop. Which ended up him giving Luffy a scolding hit on the head and Sabo teaching him that it's rude to ring people's doorbells constantly.

Sabo was busy people-watching, looking at the other kids begging for candy at several houses nearby and walking around, having typical Halloween fun. He looked down at his watch to check the time.

**6:44 P.M.**

The undercover nobleman spy nudged his best friend, causing him to throw a silent look his way. Sabo showed him his watch and tapped on the glass cover. "We're doing pretty good on time. It takes about ten minutes to walk here to my neighborhood and it should take about thirty minutes if we're only going to a few houses. By that time, it should be around seven thirty-five-ish. So we'll have plenty of time for our Halloween plans."

Ace nodded, "Yeah, this is gonna be so sick. The night we've been waiting for a whole month is finally here."

"Heck yeah!"

Luffy came back with his first candy bag being full of candy. "Okay, that was the last house I wanted to go to. Now to Sabo's neighborhood!"

As the three walked along the sidewalk, Ace noticed that Luffy was trailing a little bit behind them. He turned around to see him struggling to carry his big candy bag. The freckled boy sighed and stopped in his tracks.

"Luffy, give me your bag." He commanded.

"No, I can carry it."

"But you're dragging it along so it's making you walk too slow."

"Are you trying to say that I'm too weak to carry it?"

"I wasn't directly saying that but if the shoe fits, wear it."

Sabo swore he just witnessed a spurt of steam shoot out from Luffy's ears. The youngest stood up to his brother and Sabo swore again that he just saw an imaginary lightning bolt form between their intense staredown.

The nobleman spy took it upon himself to walk in between them and push the two away before a fight breaks out. "C'mon guys, remember what's important. The more you fight the less valuable time you're wasting. Luffy..." He turned to the dressed pirate king. "It's obvious that your candy bag is too heavy for you to carry properly, so just put your pride aside and let Ace carry it. Okay?"

Luffy pouted but nodded, obeying. If it's one person Luffy would listen too, it was Sabo. He just had a persuading way and tone with his words that manage to get Luffy to obey.

"Fine..."

Sabo turned to his best friend next. "And Ace, stop teasing Luffy."

"I wasn't-"

"Ace." Sabo warned.

Ace paused and saw that Luffy was sticking his tongue out from behind Sabo's back. He gritted his teeth and crossed his arms in defeat. "Fine."

Sabo clapped his hands together and formed a peaceful smile. "Great! Now let's keep going."

"Don't eat any of my candy." Luffy warned as he handed Ace his bag.

"I won't eat your stupid candy, at least not from our neighborhood. The candy you get from Sabo's neighborhood, however, I won't make no promises." Ace gave him an evil smirk.

"You better not!" Luffy shouted, falling for his taunt.

"Hey, you two!" Sabo turned around, giving them a scolding look.

"Sorry..." Ace and Sabo mumbled.

**ooo**

Ace understands why their math teacher wants Sabo to be on the math team because his skills with numbers are so damn accurate. Just like he predicted, it took them exactly ten minutes to reach his neighborhood, even with them stopping a couple of times. As they observed the area, he and Luffy stared in awe as they took a good look at the large houses that resided. Since it was a gated community, Sabo was thankful that the gates were open since cars were driving in and out constantly tonight.

They followed Sabo's lead as they snuck past the gate. Once they successfully infiltrated, they all high-fived each other.

"Yay, we got in!" Luffy cheered.

"These houses are so huge..." Ace noted.

Huge was an understatement, they can pass for being mansions.

"How come you never invite us to your house?" Luffy asked out of curiosity.

Sabo stuffed his hands in his pockets and sighed. "Cause my parents are very strict and act stuck up towards people who aren't well-to-do. They don't want me being friends with people who are at a lower social status and money status than them. Crappy I know, but they're my parents and I can't change their ways. Even though I have a totally different mindset than them."

Ace brought his brows together, "Jeez Sabo...we've been friends since first grade and you're just now telling me this. Why didn't you tell me that was the case whenever I wanted to come over to your house? Every time I asked to come over you just came up with an excuse or just suggested that you go to mine."

Luffy looked at Sabo, expecting his answer. Staring at him with eyes of sympathy.

"I...I didn't want you to think that I was ashamed of being your friend. I was always conditioned to be only friends with kids from my neighborhood but honestly, everyone here sucks. But I love hanging out with you and Luffy. I didn't want my parents to intimidate you two and pressure you to stop being friends with me. They-"

"No disrespect Sabo but who gives a shit what your parents say. We've been best friends since we were five and you're basically my second brother. I don't care who it is, no one can break our bond apart. I don't care if you're from some wealthy ass family, all that matters is that you're Sabo and Luffy and I love you for that. Remember you're not your parents, you don't have to think like them."

"Yep!" Luffy agreed with a smile.

"Ace...Luffy...thank you." Sabo said with an appreciative smile.

He suddenly felt a huge weight being lifted from his heart and shoulders. He would always feel guilty keeping the secret from them of why he never invites them to his house. But now that he got that off of his chest and his two closest friends still accepted him, he felt a lot better.

"Wow Ace, you should be one of those motivational speakers thingamajigs."

Ace shot Luffy a look. "Way to ruin the sentimental moment Luffy."

Sabo walked up and embraced them in a big group hug. "You two are the best."

Luffy simply snickered and hugged back. Ace, on the other hand, raised his hand awkwardly and slowly patted him on the back. "Okay Sabo, I know we had a moment and all but hugging is kinda lame."

Sabo couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Oh shut up, you hard ass."

"Well, well, well. So these are the people that too-good-for-us Sabo hangs out with." A haughty voice spoke out.

The three broke their embrace and turn around to the direction of the obnoxious sounding voice. Although Ace and Luffy didn't recognize the kid, Sabo certainly did. The blond let out a dreadful sigh. "What do you want Stelly?"

The mentioned boy stood proudly with his fist sitting on his hips. Two other snobby (and ugly) looking kids were standing behind him, looking like his lackeys. Ace masked his typical unfriendly scowl and Luffy simply had a blank expression, not knowing what to think about them yet.

Stelly smirked and gave him a condescending look. "So these are the losers that you always leave the neighborhood to go hang out with. Hmph, see?" He turned to his lackeys "I told you they were nothing but just a bunch of poor class good-for-nothings."

Ace hand clenched into a fist.

Stelly walked up to an irritated Sabo, getting close to his face. "Tsk, tsk. You really do suck Sabo. No wonder nobody in our neighborhood wants to be your friend. Because you hang out with people like these two."

"Funny how you assume that I actually want to be friends with any of you boring fakes." Sabo stood his ground.

"Well if you didn't lower your standards then maybe you would fit in with the rest of us."

Luffy stomped over to Stelly and pushed him away from Sabo. He almost stumbled to the ground from that push, causing a chuckle from Sabo by how sheltered he is.

"Don't talk to Sabo like that! Who're are you to call us losers, you don't even know us! If anything...y-you're the losers!"

Stelly shot him a nasty look.

"Ugly ones too!" he added.

That was the cherry on top of Stelly's rising anger. The bowl-cut brunette stood up, brushed off his clothes then walked up to push Luffy harder. Even though he didn't really harm Luffy but that set a trigger to Ace's big brother alarms.

The older brother didn't hesitate for a second and grabbed Stelly by the collar of his costume. "Don't touch my brother you piece of shit!"

Stelly's eyes went wide with fright. "Ryo, Haru, get him off of me!"

Said "friends" were about to walk up but ended up cowering back when Ace gave them a death glare. Ace glared back at Stelly and tightened the grip on his shirt. "Tell him you're sorry."

Stelly let out an obnoxious laugh. "In your dreams."

Ace lifted his fist as a threat, causing bullets of sweat to pour down his face. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He told Luffy.

Ace smirked but still kept his strong grip on his shirt. "Who's the loser now?"

"Sabo get your poor friends off of me!"

Sabo was too busy enjoying Stelly's cowardice so much, so he decided to make this even more entertaining. "I don't know, I would rather watch my best friend punch your lights out. With me getting a couple of licks in, of course. Luffy is like a little brother to me, so messing with him means you mess with both of us."

Stelly turned white in the face. "No, no, god no! I'll do anything but just please don't ruin my beautiful face."

Luffy snorted a laugh at that last part.

"Anything?" Sabo teasingly asked.

Stelly nodded frantically, scared shitless of Ace's burning glare. Sabo rubbed his chin and noticed the large bags of candy he and his friends had.

"Give us your candy."

Stelly and his lackey's mouths hung open. "What! No! We literally just finished walking around the whole neighborhood and this is the only neighborhood we get our candy from!"

"Welp looks like you're gonna have to put your snobby pride aside and go to other neighborhoods nearby to make up for it. C'mon, cough it up."

Stelly turned away, "Hmph, no way!"

Ace cracked his knuckles, making Stelly shiver from the sound of it. "Alright, alright!" He turned to his lackeys. "Give them our candy."

One of the lackeys was hesitant. "B-But Stell-"

"Give them the candy!" Stelly ordered harshly.

They stared at him for a moment before groaning in defeat and handing their three candy bags over to Ace and Sabo.

Stelly turned to Ace. "There. Now leave us alone."

"Uh, uh. Not without teaching you guys a quick lesson first." Ace smirked evilly.

"B-B-But we gave you what you wanted." Stelly said nervously.

Sabo walked up and stood next to Ace, "Yeah but you said don't mess up your face. You never said any other part of your body."

"You twisted up my words!"

Luffy was busy eating one of the many sour gummies from his bag, ready to see them fight.

Stelly backed away while Ace and Sabo kept walking up towards him.

"Pl-Please lets all ju-just talk about t-th-this..." Stelly pleaded.

"When you touch my little brother, it's too late for talking." Ace said, raising his fist.

**ooo**

"Well, that just saved us a whole bunch of time. Sure beats walking around the neighborhood, huh?" Sabo said, holding two of the candy bags.

"Yeah, now we can start the real Halloween fun." Ace held Luffy's bag and the one that was once Stelly's.

"Mumhuh!" Luffy muffled on his lollipop.

"So Ace, what's the first thing on our list?" Sabo asked.

The freckled teen took a folded sheet of paper out of his back pocket. He unraveled it and scanned over the thing next to the number 1 on the list. "Well, let's see..."

"Sabo, what's in your backpack?" Luffy asked.

Sabo turned around to check out at his backpack. "Toilet paper."

The younger boy's nose wrinkled due to confusion. "Wait...why-"

"First thing on the list, prank our old shitty teachers." Ace interrupted.

Sabo shifted his attention to Ace. "How many teachers? Because we have a lot of shi-….crappy teachers."

"Mr. Akainu and...Mr. Three." Ace read.

"So old crappy art teacher, and our old crappy earth science teacher...wait what did Mr. Akainu do to you again? He never had a problem with me before."

"Last spring semester, he pissed me off because he gave me a sixty-nine on one of our last tests so I, politely, asked him if he can curve it by one point. But he just yelled at me for no reason and told me to not be dumber next time. Mind you, he said this in front of the whole class which made everyone laugh at me."

Sabo raised his head up, understanding. "Ah, I see. Well, do you want to teepee and just leave or do you want to ring their doorbell first then teepee?"

"Hmmm...let's teepee their house first then ring their doorbell. You know, so we can see their reaction then be able to run away because they'll be too distracted by the toilet paper."

It seemed like a lightbulb went off above Sabo's head based on his expression. "Woah, that's clever. Ace you really are smart sometimes."

Cockily, Ace placed his hands on his hips and let out a little chuckle. "I know, it's a blessing and a cur...SOMETIMES!?"

"What is teepee?" Luffy asked innocently.

Sabo ignored Ace and turned to Luffy. "Teepeeing is taking rolls of toilet paper and throwing it over people's houses. Usually as a Halloween prank, but it can be a prank in general."

Luffy gasped as sparkles formed in his eyes. "That sounds so cool!"

"So whose house are we doing first, Ace?" Sabo asked.

"Let's do Mr. Three since he lives closer to where we are right now."

Sabo nodded and began walking forward.

"Can I teepee too!?" Luffy got up in the two's personal space.

"Yes."

"No."

Ace looked at Sabo. "No Sabo, he'll just mess everything up."

"C'mon Ace, we have a lot of toilet paper. Luffy will be a big help for us to get rid of all of it. Plus, he's lanky so I bet he's a great thrower."

"I'm not captain of Goa's junior baseball team for nothin'." Luffy proudly boasted.

Sabo lifted his hands to present him. "See?"

"No way."

Luffy walked up to his brother's face, annoyed by his stubbornness. "Let me teepee!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

No!"

Yes!"

"No!"

Sabo just stood there, arm's crossed with an "I'm so done." look on his face. This is the third time tonight that they argued. He was deeply contemplating between stopping them and being the peacemaker or just let them argue and possibly kill each other.

"If you don't let me teepee, I'm telling grandpa about your whole plan."

Panic spread across Ace's face. "Are you kidding me!? You are such a snitch!"

"You let me teepee or I'm telling grandpa."

Ace thought for a moment before sucking in his teeth in and groaned in defeat. He would rather let him teepee than receive a dozen punches from his gramps and get grounded on top of that.

"Fine."

Luffy jumped up with his fist pumped in the air. "Yes!"

Sabo formed a small smile. It looks like he didn't have to be the peacemaker after all.

**ooo**

**Mr. Three's house**

The three boys hid behind a tree, spying on the art teacher's house. The porch light was off, probably letting people know that he wasn't passing out candy. But they knew he was home since they can see the light on from one of his windows.

"Good, he's home." Sabo noted.

Ace tossed the toilet paper upwards, catching it with perfect ease. "You ready guys?"

Sabo and Luffy looked at each other for a moment, then to Ace and nodded.

The boys snuck past the bushes and managed to make it to the front door. Somehow, Luffy tripped on a randomly placed wooden plank, making a fair amount of noise. Sabo silently facepalmed and Ace ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Are you kidding me Luffy?" Ace loudly whispered.

They all waited a few seconds to see if Mr. Three heard them. Thankfully, they didn't hear any footsteps come through so the coast was clear. Sabo sighed with relief and motioned them to come closer. Luffy carefully pulled himself up and tiptoed behind them. Once all three of them were face to face with the front door, Sabo raised his hand to knock on it.

"That's not how you do it, Sabo. You got to ring the doorbell over and over, like this..." Ace rang the doorbell constantly, tapping on the yellow button at a quick pace. When they heard rapid footsteps, they made a run for it to the middle of the lawn.

"Now!" Ace shouted.

The three launched the toilet paper rolls on the roof of his house. Luckily, they threw it far enough to successfully have the toilet paper gently flow in front of the house.

At the nick of time, they hid behind a large tree right when Mr. Three angrily rushed out of his house.

"Who's there!? I told you kids that I'm not passing out candy!?" Mr. Three yelled out.

Sabo immediately pressed his hands against Luffy's mouth to suppress his rising laughter followed by loud snorts. He knew Luffy wanted to laugh at his old art teacher's unusually high voice and, honestly, he couldn't blame him, but they couldn't risk getting caught.

It only took about three seconds for Mr. Three to notice the toilet paper flying above his house. Marching down the stairs of his porch, he walked out to see that somebody teepee his home. "Whoever did this, I'm going to find out who you are and drown you in hot wax!"

The boys wanted to laugh out loud so bad but decided to hold it in, making a run for it. Mr. Three was too busy shouting out his angry threats to his invisible enemy to notice the three sprinting away.

**ooo**

**Mr. Akainu's house**

The boys hid behind the small tree that was a few feet away from the earth science teacher's abode, Mr. Akainu. The two boys were looking forward to this one more because Mr. Akainu was the type of teacher that hated kids yet hypocritically teaches middle schoolers.

Last school year, Sabo heard him mumble things like "I'm only doing this for the money" and "These brats are the reason why I refuse to have children.", making the blond dislike the teacher completely after that. Sabo can't stand adults who think they're above everyone and live a hypocritical life, even though he did pretty well in his class.

Ace, on the other hand, is not so good at math, having the teacher dislike him more than he already did. So other than the fact that his teacher is a grade-A asshole, he has more than enough reasons to trash his house.

"You ready Luffy? We have to be very careful with this one. If we slack in any way, we could get in major trouble. You understand?" Sabo explained to him. Luffy looked at him and nodded quickly, holding the toilet paper firmly in his hand. Ace stared at Luffy and hoped to whatever deity up there that his brother sticks to the plan.

"Alright let's do this." Ace said.

As quiet as possible, they threw the toilet paper over his house, making sure it covered over his house well. They tried so hard to suppress their mischievous snickers as they launched the last remnants of their toilet paper.

The three sneakily walked up to the house and successfully reached his front door. They controlled the weight of their footsteps, making sure not to make any loud noise on the wooden porch.

"Can I ring the doorbell this time?" Luffy quietly asked.

Ace and Sabo looked at each other and formed small smiles.

"Sure."

"Of course!"

Luffy couldn't stop his toothy grin from forming as he faced the large coffee-colored door. The doorbell was a little too high for his height so he stood on his tiptoes and repeatedly rang the doorbell. After about twenty rings later they started to hear loud footsteps.

"Hey!" they heard a booming voice shout from behind the door.

"Let's bounce before he sees us!" Ace whispered loudly.

But luck was not on their side this time. Mr. Akainu opened the door swiftly as they began to run. The older man recognized the curly blond hair and the wavy raven hair from afar, he knew that it was his students from last year, Sabo and Ace.

"Hey, come here!"

He stepped out and noticed the toilet paper wrapped all around his house and roof. The white tissue gently flew from the wind, making several veins pop within Mr. Akainu's forehead. His anger rose like erupting volcano, his blood felt so hot that it can be mistaken for lava.

Luffy looked back and saw the man walk fast towards them. Since he kept looking back, he didn't see that a large rock was inches away from his feet. But it was too late for him to notice, causing his toes to hit and to trip over it. His toes screamed in pain since he was wearing sandals. When he fell to the ground, he scraped his knee on the rough concrete.

Luffy winced from the pain as his knee started to bleed out and his little toes curling up. Ace and Sabo heard his fall and turned around in panic.

"Luffy!" they both shouted.

The ten-year-old struggled to get up, soon feeling the back of his shirt being lifted. His heart was racing when he turned around to see eyes filled with anger staring down at him. Luffy tried to wiggle his way out of his grasp but he was too weak against the tall, well-built man.

"Let go of me!" Luffy yelled, still trying to wiggle his shirt free.

"Maybe this will teach you a lesson not to mess with grown adults."

Akainu raised his fist, Luffy's eyes widened, sensing what he was about to do. He closed his eyes to prepare for the punch, but after a few seconds of waiting, he didn't feel any pain. He opened his eyes to see Ace holding his fist back.

Luffy didn't even realize that he fell to the ground, he was so shocked that Ace was able to stop his punch. Ace gave his old science teacher a death glare, pushing his balled fist away.

"Don't you dare touch my little brother."

Mr. Akainu stepped back a little from the piercing stare of his past student but still stood his ground. "Hmph, would you like to take on his punishment instead?"

Internally Ace was scared shitless, he knew Mr. Akainu didn't care about hurting his students and losing his job. That's how much he hated it after all. He really hated children and wouldn't hesitate to take it out on the closest kid in sight.

But he was about to harm his little brother, one of his only family, and (even though he will never admit it out loud) his best friend. He had to push his fear aside and protect him at all costs. This was no time to run away.

Although he knew he was no match for the taller man, he balled his fist and got in a fighting position. But to his surprise, a toilet paper roll slammed into his face. Mr. Akainu backed away abruptly, wondering where the hell that came from.

Sabo used this chance to charge at him and used his steel-toe boot to kick him in the balls. Mr. Akainu yelp in pain, his knees falling to the ground. He grabbed his crotch as his body curled over from the impact.

"Now's our chance, let's go!" Sabo shouted.

Luffy lifted himself and ran over to Sabo. Ace still stood in front of the groaning man, ready to fight.

"Ace c'mon!" Sabo called out in frustration.

"No! Let me at least get one punch on him!" Ace argued.

Sabo didn't respond to that, he just silently walked over to him.

"He was about to harm Luffy, I'm not leaving unti-GAH!"

Sabo chopped him in the back on his neck. Thankfully his martial arts class came in handy since Ace passed out from the quick impact. Sabo wasted no time and picked him up, running off before Mr. Akainu was able to recover.

"Let's go Luffy!" Sabo ordered.

Luffy stared at him and wondered how he was able to carry Ace, two bags of candy, and his backpack all at once. The ten-year-old looked at him with admiration, Sabo always knew how to defuse a situation and keep his cool.

The two ran as fast as they could away from Mr. Akainu's house. Luffy was a little further ahead than Sabo since he only had to carry his two bags of candy. They didn't even know where they were trying to go, they just ran as fast as their legs can run. Not even bothering to look back to see if Mr. Akainu was following them, the boys just ran along the sidewalk, pushing past some trick or treaters. Ace laid slumped on Sabo's shoulder, unconscious from Sabo's neck chop. His arms were dangling and his head was bobbing due to Sabo's fast running.

Mr. Akainu sat up, still holding his crotch since his balls felt some lingering pain. He saw that many people were giving him judging looks as they passed by his house. Parents were covering their children's eyes since they thought he was a pervert for holding his crotch. He heard some things like "What a weirdo. What sicko holds their crotch while looking at children?" and "Maybe we should call the police? He looks like a pedo..." much to his dislike.

To add more fuel to his heated anger, a group of young teens stood on the sidewalk from afar and laughed at the condition of his house.

"Haha! Look, somebody teepeed his house!"

"His house looks so trashed, ahaha!"

"What a loser!"

Mr. Akainu rubbed his teeth against each other as more veins popped (if that was even possible) in his forehead.

"I swear, one day I will get my revenge on you three brats! Just you wait!" he screamed out to the night sky.

**ooo**

**Local graveyard**

Sabo and Luffy caught their breath as they gathered their composure. They both had their hands on their knees, their frames bent down from exhaustion. After they calmed down, they sat up and looked at their surroundings.

"We ran pretty far..." Sabo noted.

Luffy coughed, "Yeah, but at least we managed to get away."

They turned to their right and saw Ace lying unconscious on the ground.

"What did you do to him?"

Sabo smirked, "Oh I just gave him a little chop on the neck. Mastered it in my martial arts class a few months back."

Luffy gulped when he noticed the slight sadistic look on his face.

"Remind me not to ever piss you off."

Ace coughed, catching their attention. His eyes winced since he felt pain in his head and the back of his neck. Opening his eyes, his vision was a little blurry, so everything he saw looked like large smudges. After about thirty seconds, it began to clear up and everything started taking shape. When Ace looked up, the first thing he saw was a tombstone. Though the tombstone didn't have anyone's name on it.

"Am I dead?"

"No, you're just facing the backside of a tombstone." Sabo spoke.

"Ahhhhh!" Ace screamed.

He scooted far away from the grave within the next second. He looked all around and saw that they were in a graveyard. Slight pain ached his nerves as he remembered all that happened. The last thing his memory recalls was that he was about to punch Mr. Akainu but a quick force hit across his neck.

"Hey...what happened when I was about to punch Mr. Akainu?"

Sabo's eyes rolled to the side. "Well..."

**ooo**

"You knocked me out!?"

Sabo scratched the back of his head with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, but I had to. He would have destroyed you."

"What did you even do to me?"

"You know that martial arts class I told you I was taking?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well, one of our main lessons was to stop our enemy by attacking their vital pressure points. Long story short, I struck a pressure point in your neck and the impact was strong enough to knock you out cold."

Ace sucked in his teeth, turning his head away in embarrassment. "I was just vulnerable at that moment so you were able to get a clean hit."

Sabo chuckled, "Suuureee."

"It's true, dammit!" Ace yelled.

"Whatever helps inflates your big ego Ace..." Sabo teased.

Ace groaned as he jumped up, ready to scrap with him. Thankfully in time, Luffy stood in front of the two, lifting his right leg.

"Um, guys. I scraped my knee and it won't stop bleeding."

The two older boys went into protective brother mode and tended to him.

"Here, I brought some bandages for situations like this. Sit down on that rock over there and I'll patch you up." Sabo told him.

Ace took his fingertips and rubbed against his temples to soothe out his minor headache. "Yo, you got some aspirin or something in there? Your chop is starting to make me feel like my head is splitting."

"Surprisingly I do. What do you know, I forgot I had pain killers in here too." Sabo dug in his bag and found a small bottle of pain medication.

"Who are you, Dora the Explorer? You seem to have everything in that damn bag." Ace took the two tablets from him and quickly swallowed it down his throat.

An imaginary light bulb appeared above Luffy's head as Sabo examined his bleeding knee. "Hey, I got an idea. Since we're taking a break, let's kill some time and tell ghost stories."

"Ghost stories?" Ace repeated with a questioning brow.

"We sorta did all of our Halloween plans so why not?"

"He's right. We did do all of our Halloween plans and it's still only seven minutes past nine. I didn't expect our teepee operation to go so quickly..." Sabo said.

Ace sat for a moment, he felt relieved because the Ibuprofen already started to lighten the pain a little. Whatever type of pain reliever Sabo just gave him truly does some magical wonders.

The freckled boy sighed in defeat. He had no mental energy left to protest to Luffy at this point. And even if he did, Luffy will just be stubborn as a mule and try his damn hardest to get his way anyway.

"Fine. But you better not tell one of those cheesy, kiddy ghost stories. Tell something that's actually scary."

Sabo turned to him. "Well, we're sitting in the middle of a graveyard. Mind you, at night, with thousands of wandering ghosts. Whatever story he does tell will be spooky nevertheless."

Ace smirked. "I don't believe in ghosts."

"Yoooouuu wiiiilll aftteeerrr thiiiisss stoooryyy ooooooh~" Luffy wiggled his fingers towards him.

"Just get on with it." Ace rolled his eyes.

Luffy cleared his throat and closed his eyes.

"Ten years ago, there was-ow! Sabo that hurt!" Luffy flinched as soon as Sabo dabbed rubbing alcohol on his knee without warning.

"Sorry...I figured you wouldn't let me do it if I told you."

"How do you even have rubbing alcohol?" Ace asked.

"Stole it from my mother's cabinet. I told you I brought a wound cleaner kit for things like this."

Ace ran his fingers through his wavy hair. "I swear you have the whole damn world in there." He turned back to Luffy who recovered from the slight burn of his scraped knee. "Continue your story, Lu."

"Oh yeah, that's right! Ahem! Ten years ago, a lady was walking home from her job one night. It was really late and not a soul was around when she walked along the sidewalk. She was a block away from her apartment complex so she thought with relief that she would get home safely. But suddenly, she heard footsteps walking behind her."

Sabo finished patching up his knee and took a seat on one of the large cold rocks nearby, now focusing entirely on the story.

"The lady panicked a bit because she knew that no one was in sight last time she checked. The footsteps sounded barefoot, like the person behind her didn't wear any shoes and was crazy enough to walk on the cold concrete. She tried to calm herself down and constantly told herself that it was nothing to be worried about, but for some reason, she couldn't. Then, she heard a whisper in her ear."

The night autumn breeze brushed past the boys, making their hair gently blow with the wind.

"The whisper sounded scratchy and oddly-pitched, sending chills down her spine. The whisper told her "Give me back my baby..." over and over. The lady was confused because she didn't recognize the person whispering in her ear, let alone knew anything about her baby. She wanted to turn around and see who it was but she was too scared. The lady kept hearing the voice whisper this in her ear, repeating the same phrase. The lady decided to just run forward to escape the voice but it was no use. The faster she ran the louder the voice became."

Sabo stared at Luffy intently, fully invested in what he was going to say next. Ace, however, scratched the back of his head to try to get an itch out.

"It came to a point that the lady had enough since she was now right in front of her apartment complex. She decided to slowly turn around to see who was the person repeating "Give me back my baby..." in her ear. But when she turned around, there was no one in sight. The lady was confused by this because she could have sworn that she heard a voice. But she just shrugged it off that she was probably too tired and was probably hearing things. But when she turned back around, what she saw made her heart drop."

Ace had his chin resting on the palm in his hand while Sabo gulped in fear.

"It was a tall woman with blood leaking from her empty eye sockets. Her entire face and clothes were the color white, as white as a ghost. She had a noose dangling from her neck and her neck looked wrung out and twisted like a dry washcloth. The lady looked down and saw that she had a bloody knife in her hand, pointing towards her direction. Next thing she knew, the woman screamed "Give me back my baby!" and stabbed the lady in the stomach multiple times. The last thing the lady saw before she died was the tall woman, smiling crazily as she watched her suffer with her blood dripping from the tip of the knife. The lady died a slow and painful death with the tall woman being the last thing she sees..."

Sabo was shivering in fright while Ace simply blinked.

"Turns out that the tall woman was a resident of the apartment complex many years ago. She had a child and was living with her boyfriend at the time. But one day, she came home to see her baby was dead and her boyfriend nowhere to be found. The pain was too unbearable for the woman so she harmed herself with a knife then hung herself with a rope. Urban legend says that she continues to haunt the area of that apartment complex to this day because her soul refuses to rest. And that's the story of the lady who walked home from work late one night."

"That sounds terrifying. I'm never walking home late ever again." Sabo commented.

Ace yawned in response, showing his total boredom. "That story was so lame."

Luffy eyes shot over towards him, his eyebrows knitting together. "My scary story was awesome! Look at Sabo, he's about to pee his pants."

"That's because Sabo is a total wuss when it comes to any scary story."

The blond snapped his head towards him. "I am not a wuss! Matter of fact, I can tell a scarier story than that."

"Heh, a softie like you? Telling ghost stories?" Ace sniggered.

Sabo's face grew hot from frustration. It irritated him whenever Ace always judged him for being "too soft". Well, this time he'll prove him wrong. He took a flashlight out of his bag and clicked the light on from the bottom click. Setting it under his face, the artificial light creepily illuminated his face.

Ace threw his arms up hopelessly, "Where did you get a flashlight?"

Sabo ignored him. "There was a man with a hammer and a pipe. His eyes could never be seen. They called him...the graveyard husband."

Luffy and Ace shifted their bodies fully towards Sabo. Intrigued by the story already.

"Many years ago, the old man lost his wife due to illness. He loved her so much that he never accepted her death and always waited beside her grave to wait for her return. He waited so long for her to return that he eventually died. But his spirit never rested, because of how much he refused to believe that his wife was dead."

Ace paid full attention now, letting go of his aloof posture and sitting up straight. Luffy looked at Sabo with worried eyes but stayed silent, which seemed unnatural for him since he's known to respond to every little thing.

"So to this day, he roams this graveyard at night and will haunt and kill anyone with his hammer if he catches someone near his wife's grave. But the thing is, no one knows his wife's name, so it's no telling which one of these tombstones is hers. You could be sitting next to her grave...right now."

Fear spread across his friend's faces as they trembled in fear. Luffy and Ace wrapped their arms around each other and they didn't even realize it. They were just that afraid.

"I heard that if he kills you, your soul won't be able to rest either and you will spend the rest of eternity roaming this graveyard. Just like the old man."

"GUAAEEEHHHH!" Luffy screamed, falling over the rock.

Sabo smirked with pride when he saw Ace in his frightened state. His story was scary enough to break through his tough-guy persona so there was no way he can call him a "soft teddy bear" anymore.

"Hey, is that story real?" Ace asked nervously.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Why do you ask? I thought hard ass Ace didn't believe in ghosts."

"You said that the old man has a hammer?"

"Yep!"

"Who smokes a pipe?"

"Yeah...?"

"And his eyes can't be seen, correct?"

"Yes...Ace what are you getting at?" Sabo asked.

Ace gulped while sweat stilled on his forehead. "Sabo, whatever you do, don't turn around."

Sabo crossed his arms and smirked. "Ace, are you trying to freak me out?" He began to turn around. "Because whatever it is it won't..." The old man that Sabo described exactly in his story stood behind him. He had a hammer in his right hand and a pipe in his left.

Sabo choked on his words and became speechless at what his eyes were seeing right now. The old man's eyes weren't even seen due to his thick eyebrows concealing them. Just like the eyeless man he described in his story.

The old man reached over and touched his shoulder. Sabo felt like his soul left his body as he felt the old man's rough hand press down on his shoulder. Ace practically turned white as he didn't know what to do or say. Luffy, comically crying out of fear, decided to run for his life.

"GAHHH, HE'S REAL! HE'S REAL! RUN FOR IT!" Luffy shouted.

Thankfully, that restored the older boys will to live as they quickly took their stuff and ran away, following Luffy's suit. The old man did nothing but watched the three boys run away out of the graveyard.

The old man, Naguri, just wanted to ask the boys if they were lost and needed a ride home. He had no idea why they were so frightened by him; he was just visiting his late beloved wife's grave since it's her birthday today.

After a little contemplating, the old man shrugged it off and just concluded that they take the phrase "stranger danger" very seriously.

**ooo**

The three ran with all their might away from the old man and the spooky graveyard. They managed to run through a random neighborhood, even though they were too busy to see which one it was. Luffy was the first one to stop running, feeling his lungs burning from exhaustion. He coughed a bit when he tried to get his breathing back at a normal pace.

They all sat down on the curb to settle down for a minute. Ace was the first to sit up, noticing that the neighborhood they were in looked familiar. "Hey, I know this neighborhood. This is-"

The sound of a crying girl was heard from afar.

All three turned to where it was coming from. They saw a little girl sitting at the other side of the sidewalk with her face buried in her hands. Her body was quivering as she let out loud cries. Ace and Sabo rushed over to the girl, their faces masking concern. As they got up close, Ace noticed her purple hair that was pinned up in a bun. The freckled pre-teen instantly recognized the girl as he also heard the familiarity in her cries.

"Tama?" Ace called out.

Said girl looked up with glassy, wet eyes to see who was the one who called her name. She saw Ace and her expression shifted to surprise. Out of all people, she didn't expect to see him here.

"Ace!"

Sabo turned with a confused look. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah. I'm her babysitter." Ace simply answered.

"Ehhhh! This is the person you always babysit every other weekend?" Luffy asked, surprised.

"Wait a minute. You're a babysitter!" Sabo was more surprised at the fact that his best friend, his short-tempered best friend, had the patience to watch over little kids.

Ace nodded, making Sabo's mind blow from shock. "I would have never thought, in a million years, that you of all people would have a job watching kids."

"C'mon Sabo, I babysit Luffy all the time, mind you, for free. What makes you think that I can't be kickass babysitter after watching over my idiot little brother all my damn life."

Tama covered her ears. "Swear words!"

Ace gasped and covered his mouth as he didn't realize he just cursed in front of her. "Oops, I'm sorry Tama. Erase those words from your memory, kay?"

Sabo's mouth twitched as he witnessed babysitter Ace into action. He has officially seen all the revelations of the universe.

Ace bent down to her level and patted her head. "First of all, why are you sitting alone all by yourself? A five-year-old shouldn't be trick or treating by herself this time of night. And second, why are you crying?"

Tama sniffled as she looked down at the concrete. "Well...I was trick or treating with Master Hitetsu and I got distracted and walked away from him for a few minutes because one of the houses looked so cool. When I was done looking at it, I saw that I walked off too far and got lost trying to find my way back. I don't know how to get back home. And I tried asking some kids how to get back but they just ended up being mean to me and stole my candy bag."

"That's so cruel." Sabo noted, his eyes showing sympathy.

Ace sighed, "Tama, you need to be aware of your surroundings before walking off like that. Red-nose gramps is probably worried sick about you right now."

Tama made a sad pouty face, she looked like a puppy who was getting scolded. Ace stared at her for a moment before smiling softly.

"Here." He brought his hand out. "Let's get you home."

Tama's eyes shined when she saw his hand and smiled, placing her smaller hand into his larger one. When she sat up and wipe her tears away, Ace noticed she was dressed as a ninja.

Ace chuckled, "I see that you're a kunoichi for Halloween."

The girl smiled widely as she imitated some ninjutsu signs. "I told you I was going to be a bewitching female ninja. Nin nin!"

Sabo smiled and eyed the candy bag he was holding up. He felt bad that the poor girl got her candy bag stolen, so he wanted to do something to make it up to her. He knew that this was Luffy's candy bag, but still...

"Here." The blond held out the candy bag he was holding. "You can have this."

Ace and Tama's eyes widened from his offering. The little ninja's eyes welled up, pointing at herself with her finger to confirm. "Are you sure I can have it?"

Luffy gaped at the whole ordeal that was going on. That was his candy bag, even though they stole it from that Stelly dude and his lackeys.

"Hey, that's-"

He was interrupted by being hit on the back of the head by Ace's punch. Tama furrowed her eyebrows when she saw her babysitter cover the other boy's mouth while smiling at her.

"Don't mind him. Go on and take the candy bag Tama." Ace reassured.

Tama nodded and reached her hands out to grab the bag. She gave Sabo a smile of gratitude. "Thank you...uh..."

"Sabo." He answered for her.

"Sabo. Thank you, Sabo."

The curly blond shined his blue-colored braces down at her. "No problem."

Ace let go of his hold on Luffy and got close to his ear. "Just let her have it. You have three other bags full of candy. Don't be stingy."

For once, it seemed like Ace's words worked on Luffy because he didn't protest this time. He simply pouted and crossed his arms while side-eyeing Tama. Ace sighed with relief and walked next to the female ninja.

"Alright Tama, I know how to get to your house from here so let's get going."

Tama nodded as she held tightly on the candy bag. "Mhmm!"

It took about eight minutes of walking for them to reach Otama's house. During that time, Ace and Sabo chatted with the hyper-active girl while Luffy was still being pouty behind them. Even though he still had three bags of candy, he still felt sullen seeing that she had one of his bags in her possession.

Master Hitetsu thanked them (mainly Ace) so many times that they lost count. The two boys just accepted the immense appreciation and waved goodbye to Tama and Red-nose gramps.

"Bye Tama, see you next Saturday." Ace flashed his bright smile at her.

"Yeah! Bye Ace! Bye Sabo! Bye...uh...pirate boy!"

Ace and Sabo kept waving until they walked away from their house. Luffy kept sulking as he dragged one of his candy bags along the sidewalk, following behind them. Ace looked back to see him moping around and turned around to face him.

"Luffy."

The young pirate king looked up and stared off to the side. "What?"

"Look, someday you'll understand why we let her have the candy bag, okay? Sometimes you got to put your selfishness aside and do what's right by people y'know. She was crying and you see that as soon as Sabo gave her the candy she instantly cheered up? We made her night just by one good deed."

"So why is that when I cry you do nothing but smack me on the head and tell me to suck it up?"

"Because she's a girl and she's more prone to cry than guys should. When you cry, nine times out of ten you're just being a big crybaby. But when she was crying it was because of a valid reason. And...girls just cry more, okay!? I don't make the rules of crying, that's just how it is!"

Luffy huffed, "Fine. I won't be pouty anymore. It's just one bag anyway."

Sabo formed a proud smile. "See? That's the mature mindset you gotta have Luffy." Sabo lifted the candy bag he was holding up. "Besides you have three more bags all to yourself. When we return home, it'll all be for you."

"Not if I don't eat it first." Ace teased.

Luffy snarled, "I'll make sure you won't get any!"

Ace raised a stolen lollipop and dangled it in front of his face. "You sure about that?"

Luffy mouth hung open, his eyes widening. "Ho-How did you get that!?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Give it back!"

Ace quickly unwrapped the lollipop wrapper and licked it before Luffy was able to reach him. "Too slow."

The pirate boy's face turned red, it seemed like smoke was shooting from his ears. He chased his brother around, ready to beat the crap out of him. Ace smirked with the lollipop stick hanging from his mouth as he was busy outrunning his little brother's wrath.

It wasn't long before the siblings were wrestling with each other, mainly with Luffy trying to take the candy out of his mouth. Sabo would tell them to knock it off but he was distracted by something going on nearby.

"Hey, guys..."

They ignored Sabo and kept messing around in the street.

"Guys!"

"What!" Ace and Luffy shouted at him.

"Look." Sabo pointed towards the house up ahead.

The bickering two looked to where he was pointing at. It was a house party going on, kids who looked a bit older than them were in costumes, laughing and goofing around. The three watched as they heard the bass from the loud music. Sparkles twinkled in their eyes as they observed the whole atmosphere from a distance.

"We're going to that party." Ace decided.

"Whaaaat!" Luffy shouted.

"Ace you can't be serious! We did everything we planned to do, so we should head on home. Besides those look like high school kids, we'll stick out like sore thumbs." Sabo touched his shoulder to try to stop him.

Ace ignored his warning and walked towards the party with a sneaky smile on his face. Luffy stared at him for a moment before smiling too and ran up to catch up with him. Sabo just stood there, his mouth hung open from seeing his two friends about to crash a Halloween party. The nobleman spy let out a deep sigh and slowly followed behind them. If they were really about to do this, he has to at least make sure that he was there with them. Nervousness wrapped around his heart as he approached the lively looking party.

**ooo**

An hour later, Sabo was trying to hit the pumpkin pinata as he had the blindfold tightly wrapped over his eyes.

"C'mon Sabo, you can do it!"

"Hit the pumpkin Sabo!"

Sabo swung in every direction he could possibly think of. On his fifth swing, he felt the stick hit something, letting him know that he found it.

_"Jackpot."_

He swung in that direction repeatedly until the pinata bust open. All kinds of candy spilled out from the paper mache pumpkin. The older teens cheered as they rushed over to grab the pieces off the floor.

"Nice one Sabo!"

"My man!"

Sabo relished in the compliments he was getting, a proud smile stretching across his face. He grabbed a good bit of candy before he left the area. Suddenly his watch beeped, he looked down and saw that it was a new hour. Ten o clock on the dot.

"It's starting to get late. I need to find Ace and Luffy so we can get out of here."

His first instinct was to head towards the living room area. Sabo felt claustrophobic as he tried to walk through the crowded hallway. Sweaty dancing bodies bumped him countless times. Even a girl accidentally bumped into him with her chest. Sabo quickly retracted and moved out of her way before she got a good look at who he was. His face turned warm from all of the blushing he couldn't control.

Eventually, he reached the living room area, taking some time to catch his breath from the lack of space and overbearing hot air. When he gathered his composure, he saw that an apple bobbing game was going on right in front of him.

Two people were in a competitive match with a surrounding crowd. Their heads were just above the water, using their mouths to try to get a bite on the floating apples. One of the competitors was beating the other one with no sweat. Although Sabo couldn't quite see him too well because of the taller teens standing in his way.

He noticed a coffee table nearby so he decided to stand on that so he can see the match. The winning competitor had his head in the water, trying to bite on the last apple. After a moment or so he was able to bite into it hard and lifted his head from the water. Sabo's eyes widen when he realized who it was.

Ace spat out the last bitten apple in the basket goal sitting right next to him. A flow of water left the tips of his wavy hair, causing his hair to become straight. His freckled face was wet from so much dunking in the bucket full of water. The top half of his orange shirt was stained from the dripping water. The pre-teen took deep breaths before grinning in triumph.

"Ace took out all the apples, so he's the winner!" The inspector of the game shouted.

The crowd surrounding them cheered for Ace. The winner lifted his arms in victory, pumping his fist in the air.

"Woohoo! I won!"

His competitor lifted his head from the water and sucked in his teeth from his brutal defeat. "Aw man, this sucks! But I gotta admit that you're really good at this kid. Good game."

Ace chuckled, "Thanks man."

They slapped their hands together and did a bro dap out of good sportsmanship. Everyone began walking away which gave Sabo the perfect opportunity to grab Ace before he gets sucked in some other game. He wasted no time and jumped off the table, walking up to his best friend. When he reached him he tapped his shoulder, causing Ace to quickly turn around.

"Oh Sabo, you're here. Hey, did you see me win that apple bobbing match?"

"Yeah, I did."

"I was so kickass at it, right!? I gave that guy no chance at winning. It's official, I'm the apple bobbing master! Oh, they also gave me this nice-looking candy apple as my prize too. Doesn't it look cool-"

"Ace, that's nice and all but we need to leave."

"What? No way. We just got here."

"We've been here for about an hour now."

"Really? Wow. Time does fly by when you're having fun."

"Anyway, we need to find Luffy quickly and head on home."

Ace whined, "C'mon, Saboooooo. But the party is just getting started."

Sabo sighed and used his last resort in trying to persuade him, he brought his watch up to Ace's face to show him the time. It seemed like Ace's eyes bulged out of his head as soon as he realized that it was almost ten-thirty.

"Holy shit, gramps will be home in about thirty minutes. We need to hurry up and get back home before he does."

"Now you understand. Jeez, you're so hopeless."

Ace wrung out the rest of the water in his hair. His wet raven locks started to become wavy again as it dried from the humidity in the room.

"Thankfully Luffy isn't the quiet type so it's a good chance we'll be able to find him if we look out for his loud squeaky voice."

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" A group of people chanted from afar.

Ace and Sabo turned to each other with confused faces, then to where the chanting was coming from. In the kitchen area, there were a bunch of people crowding around a table. It looked like someone was chugging down a drink while standing on the kitchen island table. The two moved closer to see who was the one the crowd was encouraging on so much. And when they did, their mouths hung open from utter surprise.

Luffy had a bowl of red punch up against his mouth. He chugged it down with ease while everyone was hyping him up. After twenty seconds of chugging, he set the bowl down and wiped the lingering juice from his mouth. He smiled proudly and waved his hands in the air. Everyone in the kitchen was cheering for him, in awe that he was actually able to do it.

"Luffy! Luffy! Luffy! Luffy! Luffy!" They now chanted his name, showering him with praise. It wasn't long before they picked him up and crowd surfed him all around the kitchen.

Ace and Sabo couldn't believe what they were seeing. The kid that they see as their little brother was really crowd surfing at a high school Halloween party. A literal ten-year-old was getting praised and honored by people who were way older than him. They both wordlessly agreed that this world was truly a strange place.

Sabo quickly snapped out of his shock and remembered that they had to leave as soon as possible. He stepped on his tiptoes to try to get Luffy's attention.

"Luffy! Hey, it's me, Sabo!"

The younger boy turned in their direction and waved at them. "Ace! Sabo! Look, I chugged all of that vampire punch down. It was cool, right!?"

"I really hope that punch wasn't spiked with alcohol." Ace spoke after recovering from his own shock.

Sabo turned to him with a weary expression. "If it was, old man Garp is going to murder you."

Ace turned pale white at the thought.

Luffy looked down at the crowd. "Hey guys, can you set me down over there?"

Without a second thought, the crowd moved him towards Ace and Sabo and set him down in front of them. Luffy ran up and gave them a big hug. He jumped up and down excitedly while laughing heartily.

"That was so much fun! Who would have thought that vampire's blood would taste so good!"

Ace became more worried as he saw Luffy acting a bit more hyper than usual. He couldn't tell if it was possibly the alcohol or him just being more hyperactive from his triumphant moment.

Ace grabbed his little brother's shoulders and squeezed them firmly. "Luffy..." He started with a pause, closing his eyes. He gulped and opened them to stare directly at Luffy's curious ones. "Was there alcohol in that punch? Do you feel dizzy or woozy anyhow?"

Luffy furrowed his brows in thought as he looked up. "Hmm...I don't know. The punch did taste like it had a little sour kick to it..."

Ace turned pale white again as his heart started to race. Sabo knew Luffy wouldn't be able to tell so he turned and tapped one of the bystanders to find out the truth.

An older boy with lazy looking eyes and a pineapple looking head turned around with a curious brow.

"Hey, was that punch bowl spiked with alcohol?"

The teen flinched his head a bit from the accusation, but then smiled afterward and let out a small chuckle. "Oh no no, that was just punch. C'mon now, why would we make a kid drink alcohol? Do you honestly expect us to do that sort of thing? Have a little more faith in us, yoi."

Although Sabo chuckled along with him like it was no problem, he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders. It's not that he didn't trust the older teens and expected them to make Luffy drink alcohol. But by the looks of all the stupidly drunk people here, he wouldn't put it past them if they forgot that they spiked it or something.

"That's good."

"But wait, my brother said that it had a little a sour kick to it. What did you put in there to give it a sour taste?" Ace asked, still a little reluctant.

The older teen eyebrows raised as if he remembered something. "Oh yeah. I forgot that Thatch squeezed a lot of lemon juice in there earlier. He also put salt on the rim of the bowl so that's probably why it had a little sour taste."

Ace and Sabo sighed with relief as their anxiety levels dwindled down. Luffy had his arms behind his head, his optimistic smile spreading wide across his face. "Shi shi shi!"

"Good, thanks for telling us uh..." Sabo stalled since he didn't know his name.

"Marco." he answered.

"Marco, right. Thanks a lot, Marco."

The teen smiled, "Anytime, yoi. Oh and Luffy, I gotta say you were pretty awesome back there. Keep being cool, little man." With that, he fisted bumped with Luffy and left the kitchen with his friend.

Ace shook his head as he stared at his brother. "I can't believe you chugged down a whole bowl of punch. I swear you always do the craziest things."

Luffy grinned at him in response. "It was so good. I want more vampire blood."

"Luffy, you do realize that that was just red punch right?"

"Not uh, it was blood from actual vampires. They told me so."

"That's because they were messing with...you know what, yes Luffy, it was actual vampire blood. Forget what I said." Ace didn't feel like going back and forth with him. Arguing with Luffy was pointless anyway since he's too hardheaded to listen to reason.

"I told you so. Hey, why does your hair feel wet?" Luffy touched the back of his hair.

"Apple bobbing contest." Ace simply answered.

Luffy's face lit up. "Really!? Well, did you win!?"

Ace formed a cocky smirk. "Of course, I did."

"So it looks like we're both winners." Luffy raised his hand for a high-five.

Ace smiled and high-fived him. "You didn't exactly win anything, but sure."

"It's nice to see you two get along for once but we need to go. It's ten-thirty on the dot."

Ace became serious and turn to him. "You're right. Let's get out of here and hurry back home."

Luffy nodded in agreement.

The three ran out of the house, leaving the zestful Halloween party. They pushed past the people standing outside and ran along the sidewalk.

"Our neighborhood is just about three neighborhoods away from here. If we run the whole way there we might can get home before gramps gets there first." Ace said.

Sabo turned his head to see Luffy trying to catch up. "C'mon Luffy, pick up the pace! We have to hurry before old man Garp gets there."

Luffy used his legs with all his might to try to keep up but he wasn't as fast as his brothers. He slowed down to catch his breath, placing his hands on his knees as he huffed out some air. Ace and Sabo stopped in their tracks to turn to him.

"C'mon Luffy, we need to go." Ace called out.

Luffy took a few short breaths while looking up to them. "All that punch...can't run...will throw up...if I...run anymore."

"Crap you did drink that entire bowl. If you run you'll definitely puke it back up." Sabo noted.

Ace groaned, "Okay but we have twenty minutes to get home before eleven o clock hits. How are we going to get there fast enough without running? We can't just walk the whole time."

In perfect time, a yellow car slowed down beside them. It had a weird smiley symbol on the roof, most likely the car brand. The driver's window pulled down, revealing a tan dude with a raised brow and a smirk sitting on his face. "Sup, Straw Hat-ya."

Luffy turned around and squinted his eyes to get a better look at him. As soon as Luffy recognized him, he instantly smiled at the driver. "Tra-guy!"

Tra-guy clenched his teeth, his eyes like daggers as he glared at him. "It's Trafalgar! I told you to just call me Law!"

"Who is this dude, Luffy?" Ace asked.

Luffy stood up and pointed at the driver with his thumb. "This is Tra-guy. We became friends after he showed me where the bathroom was."

"We aren't friends!"

"You don't become friends with someone just because they show you to the bathroom." Sabo told him.

Ace turned to Law, "Is that so? Well, what do you want with Luffy?"

"It looked like you three were rushing to get home. I can give you a ride to wherever you're headed." Law offered.

"What neighborhood do you three live?" A guy with a penguin hat asked from the sunroof.

"In Windmill Village." Ace answered.

"Oh that's perfect cause Law's neighborhood is right next to yours." A guy in a bear costume said.

Law nodded at him and coolly turned back to the three. "So? You want a ride or what?"

Luffy flashed his pearly white smile. "Sure! Wow Tra-guy, you're so nice."

"Hold on. Why are you doing this?" Ace asked, being the hesitant type that he is.

Law let out a light chuckle. "Even though your brother is a complete idiot, he did entertain me while I was bored at that party. So why not repay him by giving him a ride home?"

"Plus we're friends!" Luffy added.

"We are not!" Law shouted.

Ace stared at him for a moment before crossing his arms and sighed. "Fine. We'll take the ride."

"Thanks, Tra-gu...I mean Law." Sabo said.

Law formed a small smile and jerked his head a little to the side, urging them to get in the car.

"Hop in."

**ooo**

A few minutes in the ride, Luffy observed his surroundings as Law drove by the passing neighborhoods. Law was driving quietly, twisting and guiding the steering wheel with ease. His friends sat quietly too as they watched the passing scenery from their windows. The pirate king turned to his right and saw Sabo, arm's crossed, being in deep thought as usual. The blond nobleman stared at the back of the driver's seat, too self-involved to notice Luffy staring at him.

Luffy turned to his left and saw Ace tracing the freckles on his arms out of boredom. Looking up, he noticed an orange cowboy hat sitting on his head. It had two blue emoticons with red beads wrapped around the rim and a large bull's skull medallion hanging from two side straps. Out of curiosity, Luffy tapped on his shoulder to get some insight on the cool-looking hat.

"Hey Ace?"

Said boy turned to face him with a bored yet questioning look on his face.

"Where did you get that cool hat?"

Ace looked up to his hat and smiled. "Oh, this? Some drunk guy dressed as a cowboy from the party just gave it to me. I don't know if he'll remember giving it to me though. He looked pretty plastered."

Luffy nodded, understanding. "Ohhh..."

Sabo sat up to face them and let out a light chuckle. "Hey, I just noticed that we're all wearing hats."

Ace made a face of realization then laughed when he looked at all of their hats. "Yeah, you're right."

"Ace, let's switch hats. I want to see how yours looks on me." Luffy said.

Ace pulled back and slapped his hand away when he tried to grab it. "No way. You'll just be reckless with it and mess it up somehow. Plus I don't want to wear your lame ass straw hat."

"My straw hat isn't lame! Mr. Shanks gave it to me so it's far from lame."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Luffy."

"Let me wear your hat!"

"No!"

The two began to fight in the backseat, causing a lot of ruckus much to Sabo's annoyance. Sabo tried to move away a little to avoid getting hit in the crossfire but it was hopeless by how little space the backseat of the minivan had. When the nobleman spy got kicked in the cheek by Luffy's feet and accidentally hit on the forehead by Ace's elbow that was when he had enough. He formed a dragon claw with his hand and reach over to pinch both of their cheeks.

Ace and Luffy flinched from the pain, feeling like their cheeks were about to be ripped off. They forgot that Sabo took special martial arts classes and this was their rude reminder of it.

"Stop fighting! You two have been at each other's necks all damn night and I had enough! So cut it out before I rip your cheeks off!" Sabo warned in a dangerous tone.

Ace and Luffy shivered when they witnessed the calm yet angry look in Sabo's blue eyes. They settled down when Sabo released his painful grip off of their cheeks. The two had pouty, grumpy looks on their faces as the atmosphere became quiet again.

"He started it..." Luffy mumbled.

"What was that!" Ace yelled.

"I said that you started it!"

"You were the one who was forcing me to trade with you!"

"Because you were the one who was stingy about it in the first place!"

"Ugh, you're such a spoiled brat!"

"And you're a-"

The car halted in a complete stop. Everyone except for Law flung forward from the quick force. Law gripped on the stirring wheel so hard that some of the veins in his arms were visible. He turned around with the darkest and most threatening look a person can make. His two friends, Penguin and Bepo, shivered in fear when they felt his dark aura up close.

"If you two don't shut the hell up and stop arguing then I will personally throw all of you out of this car and make your asses walk the rest of your way home. So cut that shit out quickly. Am I clear?"

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy nodded really fast since they were scared shitless from Law's dark persona. They all shut it and awkwardly stared at anything than the intense death glare from Law's eyes. After he saw that he got his message across to them, he let out an exhausted sigh and proceeded driving.

"This is why I hate kids..." He mumbled to himself.

Bepo turned from the captain seat and flicked out some flavored gum, offering it to the intimidated boys.

"Want some gum?"

The three shook their heads no.

"It's watermelon flavored."

"No thanks, I think we're good." Sabo said.

"Oh..." Bepo brought his head down, showing a small dejected look with his seemingly real bear costume. "I'm sorry."

**ooo**

"Is this the place?" Law pulled up at the house that the three knew all too well. A sense of familiarity and relief rushed over them when they saw the two-story house from the car window.

"Yep, you can drop us off here." Sabo said.

Law stopped his car at the side of the grass, he turned around to face them.

Sabo smiled at him. "Thanks Law, we really appreciate the ride."

"Yeah, thanks." Ace said.

Law nodded, "Sure."

"Well see ya Tra-guy! Thanks for everything!" Luffy waved. His smile was so contagious that Law couldn't help but give a small smile back. He didn't even try to correct his name this time since Luffy's butchered name was beginning to grow on him.

"Later Straw Hat-ya."

"Let's hang out sometime."

Law raised a brow, "And what makes you think that we'll ever hand out. You're ten."

"So? We're friends so it doesn't matter."

"We're not friends!"

"Just accept it. Once Luffy sets his mind on something he'll never change his mind." Ace said with an amused smile.

"Yeah, he doesn't care if you're two or eighty-five years old, Luffy makes friends with anyone he likes." Sabo added.

Law stayed quiet for a moment as he stared at them. He then closed his eyes and let out a defeated sigh.

"Sure, we can hang out sometime."

"Well on that note we should head inside. Bye guys." Sabo raised his hand up at them.

Bepo and Penguin waved goodbye as they headed out of the car. Law watched them until they went inside the house safely. Penguin smiled when he saw the admirable smile sitting on his face.

"That is one weird kid." Law commented.

Bepo poked his head in the front. "But a cool one nevertheless."

Law chuckled a bit, putting his gear shift into drive.

"Yeah."

**ooo**

All three sat at the kitchen table. Two of Luffy's candy bags were laying on the middle of the table, all kinds of candy scattered everywhere. Idly, Sabo divided the candy in their various types and put them into separate groups. Ace was eating his favorite pieces from the bags, even though Luffy told him not to eat his candy. Luffy already ate more than twenty pieces of candy and was feeling a sugar rush coming on.

"What a night." Sabo said.

Ace munched on a chocolate candy bar, "Yeah, we did a lot."

"So. Much. Candy." Luffy sighed as he slumped down in his chair.

Sabo looked over at him, "Luffy please don't try to eat all of this candy in one night."

"Yeah, you have enough candy to last about a couple weeks or a month." Ace muffled with a block of chocolate in his mouth.

Sabo laughed, "Well, this is Luffy we're talking about so he'll probably go through all of this in a week."

"That's true. Especially since I'll help him out."

Luffy nodded, "Yeah Ace will...hey stop eating my candy!"

"As your big brother, it's my job to check if there are any sharp stuff or drugs in your candy. Let me do my job."

"First off people only do that when the candy isn't officially sealed. You're eating the sealed ones too! You're just using the big brother excuse to steal my candy."

Ace smacked on the rich melting chocolate in his mouth. "And your point?"

Luffy sat up from his slumped state. "Get my candy out of your mouth!"

"No!"

Luffy lunged over the table and snatched the bitten chocolate bar from his hand. Ace stood up from his chair and chased Luffy around the kitchen as he ran away from him.

"Luffy give it back!"

"No, this is candy from Sabo's neighborhood. This is the good chocolate and you're eating it all."

"Didn't gramps teach us that it's nice to share. You don't want me to tell him that you don't want to share and make him give you the fist of love, do you?"

Luffy stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard the phrase "fist of love". Those three words alone struck fear within him, so much that he turned around and gave Ace the bitten chocolate bar back. Ace grinned as he took the candy and continued to bite another piece off.

"Works every time." He said, walking back to his seat.

"Speaking of old man Garp, shouldn't he be here right now?" Sabo noted.

Ace turned to him, "You know, you're right. It's almost eleven-thirty and he still isn't home yet."

"Maybe he got stuck in traffic?" Luffy questioned.

Ace rested his feet on the table as he leaned back on his chair. "Well, whatever it is, I want to enjoy the last bit of Halloween before he comes home. I vote that we watch a scary movie to end the night."

"Oh, let's watch Buggy's Slicing Massacre!" Luffy suggested.

Ace popped the last piece of the chocolate bar in his mouth. "Took the words right out of my mouth, Luffy."

Sabo shivered at the thought since he has a secret fear of clowns, plus he wasn't too fond of scary movies at that. "Um...isn't that movie rated R? Let's watch something a little less intense than that. Oh, I know! Let's watch Chopper: The Monster Reindeer. That one is scary too, right?"

Ace and Luffy formed over-exaggerated disapproving faces when they stared at Sabo.

"Laaaammme." They responded at the same time.

Ace opened up a small bag of gummy worms. "That movie is not scary at all. In fact, I think a baby would only be scared of that movie."

"Yeah, Buggy Slicing Massacre is way scarier."

Sabo started to get nervous. "But wouldn't old man Garp get upset if he sees us watching a rated R movie?"

Ace waved him off. "When he pulls in the driveway, we'll just turn it off quickly and watch the rest of it in our room."

"Yeah, c'mon Sabo why don't you want to watch it?" Luffy asked.

"Heh, I know why. It's because he's chicken. I told you he's a softie." Ace teased.

Sabo shot him a look. "I am not a chicken and I am definitely not a softie. I can handle watching Buggy's Slicing Mass Murder."

"Massacre." Luffy corrected him.

"Whatever. I'll prove it by putting it on right now."

Luffy jumped up with excitement, "Yay!"

Ace sat up from his seat, "I'll go pop some popcorn. Luffy, go move your candy bags to the living room."

"Aye aye captain!"

As Ace and Luffy got ready for the movie, Sabo was trying hard to hide his nervousness as he opened the movie disc and slid in in the DVD player. The consequences of succumbing to peer pressure was going to bite him in the ass for the next hour.

Curse his determination to prove them wrong.

**ooo**

**1:05 A.M.**

Garp entered his home with an exhausted sigh. He was planning on returning home two hours ago. But he couldn't due to being the center of attention at the Marine's annual Halloween party with everyone wanting to chat with him, even after the party was over. Plus, when driving home, he came across some major traffic with everyone being out for Halloween night. But finally, he was able to retreat to his comfortable space and call it quits for tonight.

"Home sweet home." He said to himself while he closed the door behind him.

Taking a couple of steps forward, he looked up to see Ace, Luffy, and their best friend, Sabo, all sprawled out on the living room couch. The three snored loudly as a movie played on the T.V. screen. From the looks of it, they were watching a horror movie and fell asleep from tiredness a little while after. The sight made Garp smile and shake his head.

He walked over and saw that the horror movie was at the part where the funny-looking clown was about to slice up a teenage couple in their car. He turned off the DVD player and pressed the power button of the television, then turning to the sleeping three. He noticed the many candy wrappers and popcorn crumbs were sitting everywhere on the coffee table and couch.

"Hmph, I bet they didn't even eat dinner."

He walked off to the nearby closet and took out three blankets. Placing one over each of them, they didn't move an inch and continued to sleep peacefully. Garp proceeded to walk upstairs to head on over to his room.

His boys looked like they had quite the Halloween night. Deep down he knew that they did more than just went trick or treating and he can't even be mad at that. He may be hard on them most of the time, but if anything, he wants them to enjoy their youth. As much as they possibly can before they have to face the hardships of life when they start growing up to be young adults.

The elder man formed a proud smile as he walked upstairs.

"Sweet dreams, you brats."

* * *

Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!

Happy Halloween! Be safe on the 31st and make sure to eat a lot of candy.

:)

_**"If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it." - Lucy Larcom**_

-NinjaQueen33


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